Two CUHK Business School faculty members named RGC Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow 2026/27

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School is pleased to announce that Professor Michael Zhang Xiaoquan and Professor Liu Ruixuan have been named recipients of the Research Grants Council (RGC) Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) and Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) 2026/27 respectively, in recognition of their outstanding research achievements.

Professor Michael Zhang Xiaoquan, Wei Lun Professor of Business AI at the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology, is conferred the title “RGC Senior Research Fellow” with his research project titled “Toward a Holistic Understanding of Distributional Uncertainty”. As artificial intelligence and data analytics play an increasingly important role in healthcare, finance and public decision-making, understanding uncertainty has become more critical than ever. This project addresses a major limitation of current analytical models—their inability to account for ambiguity, or uncertainty about the underlying probability distributions behind predictions. The research will develop a comprehensive framework to measure and manage this often-overlooked source of uncertainty, helping users better assess the reliability of forecasts and AI-generated insights.

Early findings suggest that ambiguity can significantly distort risk estimates, undermine diversification strategies and contribute to rare but high-impact “black swan” events. The project will deliver practical tools for finance, healthcare, insurance and AI governance, supporting more robust decisions and reducing the risk of costly or catastrophic failures.

Professor Liu Ruixuan, Associate Professor at the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology, is conferred the title “RGC Research Fellow”. His research project, titled “Deep Generative Modelling Meets Causal Inference”, advances causal inference—the science of understanding cause-and-effect relationships—by integrating it with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques. While traditional methods often struggle to evaluate complex policies or interventions that evolve over time, the research leverages deep generative models, including transformer-based and diffusion-based approaches, to analyse high-dimensional data and estimate dynamic treatment effects more accurately.

The framework enables researchers to assess “what would have happened under different decisions or policies” in complex real-world settings, such as online consumer behaviour, business strategy and public policy. By providing more reliable evaluation of long-term and personalised interventions, the project will strengthen evidence-based decision-making, improve policy design, enhance business outcomes and accelerate the practical application of AI in economics and social science research.

This year, a total of nine scholars across Hong Kong were named RGC Senior Research Fellows, while eleven received the title of RGC Research Fellow. Under the 2026/27 schemes, each Senior Research Fellow will receive a grant of over HK$8.4 million over a period of 60 months, while each Research Fellow will receive over HK$5.6 million over the same period. The two schemes aim to provide sustained research support integrated with relief from teaching and administrative duties for outstanding mid-career researchers at Associate Professor rank and senior researchers at full Professor rank respectively at University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded Universities in Hong Kong, with a view to facilitating academics to dedicate their career to research and development as well as to give them the time and resources to nurture and train the next generation of local research talent for Hong Kong.